The Trade
by PeliikGrahSol
Summary: Instead of learning the Kage Bunshin technique, Naruto performs a strange technique that brings him before the Gate of Truth. He trades the fox in exchange for knowledge...
1. Chapter 1: The Trade

**A/N**: This is yet another story I got the urge to write on when I passed by nobody102 profile page the other day. The initial idea his idea I wanted to call it out to anyone interested in becoming an author but have no idea what to write I can suggest going to his site he got some Ideas posted there.

Well nothing more to say so hope you enjoy and please R&R

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><p>Chapter One:<br>The Trade

'_Ugh... FAIL!_'

'_Um… Iruka-sensei_, _we could let him pass…_'

'_No way, Mizuki-sensei, I can't let him pass._'

"I will show him!" Naruto shouted as he plopped down in a random part in the surrounding forest next to a shack, slightly winded from his sprint. He allowed himself to laugh at Hokage-jiji, knocking out Hokage-jiji should have him pass even if he'd not learn from the scroll. He grinned from ear to ear at the memory.

'Naruto, _I'll tell you a special secret. There's another way to graduate… all you need to do is steal a scroll…_'

Naruto grabbed the scroll from his back and opened it.

'_Learn one skill from the scroll and you pass._'

'_Hehehe, this is going to be so easy!_' Naruto proclaimed in his mind.

"Let's see… Kage Bunshin no jutsu…WHAT THE HELL?! Why does it start with the one I'm bad at?!"

With a frown on his face he roughly rolled the scroll a few lengths and began reading from there.

"Shinri no jutsu…?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at that one but shrugged in the end, it did peak his curiosity so why not?

"let's see… hand seals… ram, dragon, snake, snake, boar, ox, boar, dragon, tiger, snake, monkey, snake, boar, hare-" Naruto carefully activated each seal as the long wall of text continued on, he lost count around fifty but the seals just continued on.

In any other case he would have given up but this was a jutsu and a jutsu that needed this many hand seals must be awesome! So he persevered.

"-ram, Shinri no justsu!"

He exclaimed and promptly collapsed in a heap…

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><p>Naruto found himself standing in a white void; he could see nothing but a faint shadow at his feet.<p>

"Where am I?" he asked, "What is this place? How did I get here?"

"Nowhere, everywhere, nothing and you should know."

Naruto jumped in surprise and whipped around to face the person behind him. What met him was a white face he gave out a small yelp and stumbled and fell over his own feet.

The odd and creepy white being in front of him chuckled.

"w-who are you!?"

The being grinned as invisible lips parted revealing perfect rows of teeth.

"Who am I? One name you might have for me is The World, or you might call me The Universe, or perhaps God, or perhaps the Truth. I am all and I am one, so of course this also means that I am you."

"I… huh? I don't understand." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"No matter." the being said, "You are here because to gain you must give. Everything has a price, a toll if you may."

The being stepped aside, revealing a huge stone double-door, a depiction of a ram seal with a stylized flame around it.

"You are free to enter."

Naruto rose from the ground and approached the door. As he passed the self-proclaimed god he did not see the sinister grin.

As Naruto was about to touch the gate he stopped.

"Wait… what price exactly?" he turned looked over his shoulder at God.

Truth dropped the grin, the kid was brighter than he suspected.

"Depends on what you want, equivalent exchange, something of equal or greater value must be given in exchange for something else."

"But I have nothing to give!"

"Yes you do. A hand… an arm… your memories or," Truth smirked, "your captive."

"Ano… what captive?"

"That would be cheating now wouldn't it?"

"Cheating how?"

"Knowledge, it is what you came for and knowledge always comes at a price."

Naruto was dumb struck. He did not want knowledge, he wanted cool jutsu so that he could prove himself strong and become hokage.

"But I don't want it I just want to learn cool and powerful jutsu!" he exclaimed loudly and slightly frustrated.

"Then what harm will it do, to give something you never knew you had to begin with for something you always wanted?" God smiled widely.

Naruto pondered a few moments before finally nodded sagely.

"Sure, sounds fair."

Naruto felt hands grab hold of his clothed.

"Wah-" was all he managed to say before being harshly pulled, lifting him from his feet, "aaaaaaaaaah!"

Naruto was thrown into the black void, the door slowly closing in front of him. He could see the slight silhouette of truth waving at him.

"Goodbye, Uzumaki Naruto." It grinned and looked down at its stomach which was adorned with a new four symbols seal.

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><p>Naruto snapped his eyes open with a huge breath of air. His lungs ached for the precious gas.<p>

Something felt really weird. The cool air bit harder at his skin and he felt utterly exhausted. The feeling was utterly foreign.

'_What did I do!?_'

"Hey!" Naruto looked up at the man towering over him, "I've found you…"

"Hey, Iruka-sensei." Naruto weakly replied.

Iruka's expression turned from anger to worry in a heartbeat.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" he knelt down beside the panting boy.

Glancing to the side he noticed the scroll rolled out on the ground.

"Please Naruto, don't tell me you used the scroll." Iruka begged as he grabbed the boy by the shoulders, when Naruto did not look him in the eye he got really worried, "That scroll is forbidden for a reason Naruto."

"Mizuki-sensei told me that if I managed to take the scroll and learn a jutsu from it, you would let me graduate."

"What did you sa-" Iruka shoved the boy away and received the hail of kunai.

"Nice job in finding him, Iruka-_san_." said from where he crouched in a tree.

"I see what's going on… ugh" Iruka answered and ripped one of the Kunai out.

Mizuki looked towards Naruto without letting Iruka out of his sight.

"Naruto, give me the scroll."

"Hey, hey! What's going on?!" Naruto was confused and looked frantically between his two teachers.

"Naruto! Don't listen to him," Iruka shouted desperately "Don't give him the scroll! That scroll is dangerous, it holds many powerful and forbidden ninjutsu inside!

"Mizuki used you to get his hands on it!"

Just stood there in shock, a man he trusted had betrayed him, used him, and it shook him to the core.

"Naruto… there is no point in you having it, I'll tell you the truth."

It only took Iruka a moment to realize what Mizuki was planning and cursed that his legs got injured; otherwise he would have been able to stop him.

"N-no, don't!" it was a feeble attempt but at least he tried.

Mizuki only chuckled.

"Thirteen years ago… you know about the demon fox being sealed right?" Mizuki smiled at the boy's confused stare, "since that incident... a new rule was created but... naruto. This rule was never meant to be told to you."

"What rule, why?!" Naruto took a step forward, confusion and out right fear showing on his face.

"He he he he he," Mizuki chuckled, "The rule is that nobody is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the demon fox."

"Huh?" Naruto froze as the missing puzzle piece fell into place. Now it all made sense, the stares, the banning, the isolation… but he couldn't be the demon could he? No impossible, sealed objects can't take over or control the hosting body… '_How'd I know that?!_'

'_Wait… what price exactly?_'

'_Depends on what you want…_'

'_But I have nothing to give!_'

'_Yes you do. A hand… an arm… your memories or… __**your captive**__._'

Naruto's eyes widen in realisation as the weird guys words made sense now; He had been the host of the demon fox… but why?

"Watch out!"

Naruto did not know what happened but he felt being tackled to the ground and something warm hit his face.

"Don't listen to him Naruto… I was the same like you. I… I have felt your pain… when my parents died… I-"

"Spare me your sob stories Iruka." Mizuki landed behind the pair next to the scroll. "I got what I wanted."

Mizuki sighed and withdrew a kunai after placing the scroll on his back.

"To bad I got to kill you now, can't have witnesses now can we?"

Iruka turned to the still prone Naruto and whispered.

"Run."

Naruto just stared before leaping to his feet and ran away.

"Hah, see Iruka. The little demon doesn't care about you, no one in fact. He would have been better off dead."

Iruka removed the giant shuriken from his back with a guttural grunt; he'd been lucky that it missed his spine and lodged itself between his ribs. His flak jacket had done its job and stopped the sharp object from doing more harm than it had otherwise done.

Iruka stumbled to his feet cursing that it would take months for the new jacket to become worn in enough to be comfortable.

"Shut up Mizuki, you're a dead man walking, no matter the outcome."

"Ain't we all?" Mizuki shrugged.

Iruka whipped out a kunai and used the distraction to pop a soldier pill in his mouth and throwing himself into the fight.

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><p>Naruto ran with all the power his legs would give him, for each step he understood the gravity of what he had done.<p>

He had screwed up many times in his short life but this was probably the biggest to date; he had given up the Kyuubi.

It was weird how much he suddenly knew and understood the difference with such clarity it astounded him.

He had been a jinchuriki another fact that shocked him was how that the kyuubi's removal had not killed him.

He berated himself for not seeing the signs, understanding the hints… No he had to hurry, Hokage-jiji would understand, he would be able to fix things.

He hoped that Iruka would not die before he got help.

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><p>Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed at the recent development. The search had already been called off and a small ANBU team sent to take care of Mizuki. Iruka was beaten and bruised but would be up on his feet in a few hours.<p>

No the source of his worry was Naruto. He had not been able to find him using his crystal ball, a fact that confused him greatly. It was fool proof as no one could change their chakra signature, yet Naruto had. It was subtle but still there.

He removed his pipe and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Naruto had used one of the forbidden techniques, he was sure of it, how else would or rather could he reasonably explain the changes.

Naruto had almost gone through the roof when he'd told the boy he was allowed to redo the exam as payment for his troubles.

Hiruzen smiled. Naruto always managed to bring a laugh to his lips.

'_Better turn in for the night… I am not getting any younger…_'

The creak his office chair made eerily sounded like how his own joints felt.

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><p>It was a happy Naruto who arrived alone that Saturday morning for his well-deserved second chance.<p>

It did not help that this was his fourth try; it was embarrassing when his same-age class all passed and he alone went home with his googles instead of a shiny forehead protector.

It had almost become routine. He arrived to barely pass the written exam. Go outside and run around the training field for half an hour, throw kunai and shuriken and then spar with one random student, passing with and above average score. Then came the last part, the bane of his existence, the bunshin no jutsu.

He sighed and wished for a miracle that he was able to do one bunshin good enough to pass.

Iruka greeted him, looking only slightly better than a mummy, when he entered his classroom.

"Good to see you alright Naruto, sit down and I will start the countdown. You've got one hour."

Naruto wasted no time in going through the test and was done well before the time was done. He passed the physical test without much problem like last time.

"Good job Naruto!" Iruka grinned at the boy but felt sorry for him; he would probably not make it unless a miracle happened.

Iruka eased himself carefully into his seat and placed the Naruto's test file a little of to the side. He extracted the proper blank form and nodded towards Naruto who shifted uneasily.

"Alright I know you can do this already but for the sake of being proper, transform into me."

Naruto did as instructed with a loud affirmative and transformed into a perfect copy, '_No surprise there._'

Iruka scribbled down a few comments and instructed to do a kawarimi with a prepared log in the back of the large room.

Naruto went through the seals in an adequate time and soon afterwards exploded in a cloud of smoke leaving only a similar sized log in his wake.

Iruka nodded in approval and Naruto smiled despite having successfully done it multiple times before.

"Now Naruto… do a bunshin." This was it the last and possibly his only real hurdle to pass.

Naruto swallowed hard and went through the hand seals one by one carefully.

Iruka looked on in suspense as Naruto formed the ram seal and noticed something he had not done the other times. Naruto's hand seals were picture perfect, Iruka could not see anything that could have improved the seal in the least. He quickly started to scribble a note to take to the Hokage.

When Iruka looked up again Naruto had just finished the snake seal and went for a perfectly executed tiger seal.

Naruto was in complete concentration and his hands seemed to move on their own, forming seal after seal in with so small pulses of chakra he was afraid he put in too little. He never thought it possible to use so little but it felt right… was supposed to be that small?

As he finished the tiger seal he felt a sudden burst of excitement and shut his eyes and shouted.

"Bunshin no jutsu!"

Naruto was enveloped in a explosion of smoke that soon dissipated. Naruto did not dare to look.

Iruka was shocked to say the least. There stood not one Naruto but two. Naruto had done it…

Iruka shook his head and picked up his jaw from his desk. On a closer inspection the clone was not a perfect imitation, it looked slightly pale and the colour was not entirely the same but it was a standing clone and a useful one… at least for a start… and against genin in the heat of a battle or in the dark…

He grinned at had the urge to laugh as Naruto still had his eyes screwed down shut. Iruka did the only thing he could think of and started to slowly clap.

"Good job Naruto, you pass."

As Naruto heard the word he opened his eyes in surprise looking at the clapping Iruka. He slowly looked to his side. His eyes watered and he felt unbridled happiness as a mountain of endorphins' flushed through his body. In one big bound he leapt up into the air, fists pumping the air.

"YATTA! Do you see, do you see Iruka-sensei, I did it!" He started to jump around.

In an attempt to hug his creation he fell flat, face first into the ground when it promptly disappeared but rebounded and threw himself at Iruka and started to bawl 'I did it!' in almost unrecognized sobs.

Iruka chuckled at Naruto's behaviour and patted his head. The young teens grip hurt, like hell, but he did not want to ruin his moment of rare happiness.

"Say Naruto, let's go eat ramen, my treat."

Naruto was almost out the classroom before he finished the sentence.

"Hey, don't forget this!"

"Huh?" Naruto turned around barely managing to catch the hitai-ate.

Naruto dried his runny nose and took off his googles and put on his new headgear.

"Now you look like a proper shinobi." Iruka smiled who was met with Naruto's own beaming smile.


	2. Chapter 2: Team Up

**A/N: **Well here ya have the next chapter so gore yourselves on its glory.

It is actually a small surprise for me as this story earned the same amount of views(and visitors),faves and follows, if not more than what my other fics have managed to do in two whole months.

R&R

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><p>Chapter Two:<br>Team Up

Naruto groggily woke to his alarm clock which he silenced with a heavy palm. He snuggled into his pillow not wanting to leave the warm bed sheets… but alas he had no choice; today was Monday and as such meant it was the day he would get assigned to a team.

Iruka had been very clear about him not being late. As if he would be late to his first 'real' day as a ninja.

His feet smacked loudly against the floorboards as he wobbled sluggishly into his small bathroom too emptied his bladder.

After washing his hands he went on to make a small and humble breakfast; a slice of bread and a fine glass of milk to grow tall and strong, at least… that was what Iruka had told him. He hated that he was short for his age… only good point was that Sasuke-teme was shorter… though it was hollow as Naruto was both older and it was only two millimetres difference.

After he finished eating he quickly got dressed and was just about finished putting on his googles when he remembered the Hitai-ate, he quickly weighted his options and decided to switch and bound out the door with skipping steps.

The glares and wide berth he got from the village folks did not bother him at all, at least today; it was far too happy an occasion to let something so small down his mood.

Humming on a new melody of his, one of the few methods he developed to keep himself occupied when he was alone.

Half the class had already arrived when he entered the classroom. He earned a few curious looks as they wondered what he was doing here, but quickly went back to their own business and he placed himself on the first empty seat he found.

"Oi, Naruto what are you doing here?"

Naruto turned around and was greeted by Kiba who rested his head on his hands.

"I thought you failed the exam." he continued.

"What, you can't see my new head protector?" Naruto retaliated and readjusted his Hitai-ate to make sure it was on the right way.

"Yeah… but still, how did you get it?"

"By beating the exam of course, are you stupid?"

"What did you just say to me, huh?!" Kiba rose up slamming his hands down on the desk, leaning in close as he glared at Naruto.

"What you deaf too, Dog-breath?" Naruto met Kiba halfway both trying to stare the other down.

Kiba barred his teeth and growled menacingly with little Akamaru doing a less menacing imitation from on top his head. Naruto returned the glares with his own not giving an inch.

"Naruto move out of the way!"

"Huh?" Naruto broke eye contact with Kiba as he heard the familiar voice beside him. Kiba whooped in victory which ticked him off.

Standing with her hand balled into fists and placed on her hips with a small frown on her face. Oh Naruto loved that cute expression of hers and promptly forgot what she had said as he took his time adoring her looks.

This of course ticked her off and she shoved him out of his seat. It took him by surprised and he met the floor with an 'oomph'.

"Hey! What's the big idea!?" he shouted indignantly from the floor and he glared up at her.

She just looked down on him but dismissed him with a flick of her hair.

"You did not move out of the way stupid."

Naruto grumbled a few choice words and found another seat and he glared at Sakura who was now sidling up to Sasuke. Naruto groaned, '_Of course it was that bastard_,_ it always is._', and he laid down his head on his desk.

He heard Kiba and a few other graduates who had watched the little event snicker at him.

This year's classmates were the worst of the three. Thanks to Jiji he was able to enrol one year before most, at the age of six. Most others enrolled when they were seven. He did not remember much of his first group of classmates except that they had been the kindest, actually letting him participate in games and he was not as ridiculed for his bad marks… everyone sort of expected it anyway.

Then he failed the exam and was placed with the next year's batch of students. Then he started to actually be exiled. He was branded a failure by the 'Rookie of the year' and everyone sort of went with it. Of course not everyone was bad to him. There were two kids who liked to actually talk to him and participated in one or two of his pranks. He smiled as he remembered them, they actually nicked named each other and they formed an unofficial little group.

He remembered Bushy-brows, a single-minded boy unable to perform jutsu; it was sort of what attracted them to each other. Then there was the cute little Bun-Bun, a short little girl that always tied her hair up into two buns. They had hoped to get on the same team but then again he failed the exam.

Naruto sighed. His happy mood had completely vanished as he remembered the last time they actually spent time together… it was the time they had said goodbye at the academy gates and went their separate ways. He hoped he had not been the only one to shed tears that day.

His thoughts were interrupted when the classroom door opened and Iruka walked in. The graduating class, except Naruto, was shocked at his appearance and pronounced limp.

"Good morning class!" Iruka beamed and checked his clip board to confirm everyone was present, it was sad that some parents pulled their children out of the ninja program in the last second like this. Though it worked out for the better as were there were twenty-nine graduates now it was twenty-seven. He cleared his throat before he continued the well-practiced speech he had designed and used for several years now.

"Beginning today you are all ninja." He began though he noticed some of the graduates immediately tuned him out, he mentally sighed but continued without pause, "But you are still merely genin. The hard part has just started."

He droned on explaining how each and everyone would be divided into nine three man teams each headed by their own jounin-sensei. He further explained the importance of listening to their assigned sensei and do a good job in the name of Konoha.

Naruto silently wished to be placed with Sakura but absolutely not with Sasuke he was even worse than that 'fate guy' from before.

"-and team seven will be Haruno Sakure, Uzumaki Naruto," '_Yes!_' Naruto punched the air in triumph. Sakura had, at the words, smashed her head into her desk with a groan. "- and Uchiha Sasuke. Team eight-"

This time it was Naruto who face-planted his own desk and Sakura to cheer. If one listened carefully one could have heard a slight 'tch' coming from the direction of one Uchiha Sasuke. No one did though as the majority of the girls groaned as most of them had hoped to be paired with him.

Naruto cursed his luck. Was he doomed to always have bad luck? Now he had to contend in a losing battle with Sasuke over Sakuras love… he sighed in defeat. Sasuke did not even need to do anything to attract girls; he was like a flytrap in that regard… he he he, imagining the girls like ugly flies swarming around a pile of poo did help elevate his mood out of the gutter and grinned.

Iruka continued calling out teams, skipping the ninth saying something about it still being in 'circulation' or something in that regard, and ended on ten.

"We will introduce your assigned jounin-sensei this afternoon. So take a beak until then." Iruka finished and limped out of the room.

As soon as Iruka left the whole room erupted in conversation. Everyone wanted to know why Iruka was injured. 'What happened to Iruka-sensei?' was the most asked question. Of course Naruto knew why but he stayed silent, he knew no one would believe him and taunt him, call him liar and then go back to ignoring him.

Naruto sighed and quietly left the academy.

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><p>Naruto munched on a slightly old but perfectly edible piece of bean jam bread. The old lady at the close by bakery gave him a discount on expired bread. She wasn't terribly nice to him but she had reluctantly agreed after a few month of pestering and whining saying that at least the bread did not go totally to waste.<p>

He sighed.

Now he understood why people did their best to keep him away. They thought he was dangerous, plain and simple and thanks to that others went with the flow. The kids his age simply thought he was useless and a nuisance and the grownups were afraid of the power that he 'had' stored within him.

The demon fox… a malevolent beast of pure chakra was gone or rather not here anymore. He had traded it for knowledge… for jutsu… but he did not know any new jutsu. Had God lied to him? He had said he wanted to learn powerful and awesome jutsu and he had traded the fox in exchange. What had God said… equivalent exchange… and act of equal trade, give a ryo and receive in return something of the same value? That was it, wasn't it?

But it did not feel like he had gained anything… wait!

He sat up straight and almost dropped his half-eaten lunch, catching it in the last second. Now he remembered… he had never managed to successfully create a clone, never… until two days ago… He hadn't even practiced anything and he had still successfully made one.

Stuffing the rest of the bread in his mouth he stood up and went through the hand seals for the clone technique and with a small, very small, burst of chakra and a clone separated from him. Naruto stared at his clone in surprise. He had not even done any real effort into it at all. Before he had barely managed to create a clone even resembling himself and that had needed almost all the concentration he had.

He quickly performed a kawarimi with the first unbolted object he found. He disappeared and the Orange-red roof tile took his place. That was even more surprising as the Kawarimi was amongst the hardest E-class jutsu that the academy taught. It was not hard to perform if you had the correct tool for the job, a log with a helping sealing tag for ease of use, as it was harder and more chakra intensive the more the objects size and weight differed from the user. Naruto had tried before and only managed to replace himself with another kid his own age by mistake when the target had been a larger rock, and even that had taken so much chakra that he lost consciousness.

This new ability was incredible for Naruto and immediately broke out into a small victory dance. The tile, which he forgot the moment its use was up, smashed into the ground three floors down with a resounding crash of breaking clay.

"What in the… who threw that!" an angry voice from down the street shouted, "when I get a hold of you kids, I will personally break you like the little shits you are!"

Naruto paled and scrammed as a ladder made contact with the roofs gutter. The last thing he heard before diving out of earshot was:

"I will get you, you little bastard, I swear!"

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><p>Naruto was bored out of his mind as the minutes ticked by. The last team except his had left with their sensei an hour ago, leaving him alone with the silent and brooding Uchiha and a fawning Sakura who was staring dreamily at the boy. Naruto laid silently on the desk one row above them, trying his hardest to ignore them. His muscles still ached from his none stop sprint away from the 'scary man'. Another change he clearly noted, he'd never felt like this… at least for this long before. It usually took only a few minutes for him to feel fine again. Another thing he guessed was thanks to the fox that was no longer with him. He almost regretted trading it away… emphasis on 'almost'.<p>

The door finally opened after a few more minutes and in walked a their slumped over, half-mask wearing and silver spiked-haired jounin… at least Naruto hoped he was 'theirs' and a 'jounin', otherwise he would flip-out.

"Yo… meet me on the roof." Their apparent jounin-sensei said and promptly vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto shared a brief look with his to teammates before jumping to his feet to jog up to the roof.

* * *

><p>The spike-haired jounin sat perched on the roof railing studying them when they emerged from the door.<p>

"Sit." The man said and gestured with a hand to a set of steps in front of him.

Naruto sat down followed by Sasuke and last Sakura; all three of them looked at their sensei curiously.

"Let us start with introductions." Their sensei said but remained silently staring at them with a half lidded eye. Huh, Naruto never noticed that when the man had come for them…

No one said anything and continued to stare awkwardly at each other. Sakura had enough and opened her mouth to ask.

"Ano… what do you want to know?" she fidgeted when their teacher focused solely on her.

"Your names," he rubbed his masked chin as if thinking of what to say, "your likes… dislikes… dreams, that kind of stuff."

"Um… sensei, why don't you start, to show us how it's done?" Sakura asked.

"hm? Alright I guess that is fair." he nodded, "Let's see. My name is Hatake Kakashi, but call me Kakashi-sensei or just sensei. My likes and dislikes? Is none of your business and my dreams… secret."

Naruto deadpanned, all he told them was his name… well two could play this game.

"Now is your turn pinkie-top." Kakashi pointed at Sakura who was take off guard.

"Why me?" she asked as she shifted uncomfortable.

"Because I said so, go on." came the blunt reply.

"My name is Haruno Sakura," she sighed "My likes," she looked towards Sasuke who Kept his focus on Kakashi. The twitch in Sasuke's right eye did not go unnoticed though. "my dreams," she yet again looked at Sasuke, "and my dislikes?" she seemed to actually ponder the question before delivering the heart-breaking word, "Naruto."

Naruto sighed and hanged his head in defeat.

Kakashi could only nervously eye-smiled. He could already tell they were going to fail his test. It was sad really, he had actually looked forward to teach Naruto and to some extent Sasuke. It was sad it was the girl who would ultimately drag them down.

"Uh hu, thanks Sakura," he turned to the boy in the middle, "now your turn Fan boy."

Sasuke's eye twitched at the nickname.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I don't have many things I like and many things I dislike. My dreams? To kill a certain man."

Sasuke delivered his words in the standard low monotone voice he usually had. Naruto could only roll his eyes in silent response at the boy. He could not understand how someone that was an introvert like Sasuke was so alluring to the girls in his class, hell not even mister Fate was so melodramatic.

"And what about you orange-guy?" Kakashi turned towards Naruto with a questioning brow raise.

Naruto grinned and just when he opened his mouth he heard Sakura say under her breath 'here he goes again.' which made his grin larger. Oh she was in for a surprise.

"Names Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo!"

Everyone stared at him, expecting more, but when it never came Kakashi raised an eyebrow. He shrugged at the grinning boy who seemed almost to taunt him.

"Right… well, nice meeting you all, Sakura," he nodded towards Sakura" Sasuke and mister Sunshine"

Naruto's smile dropped into a frown at not even being named properly.

"I want you to meet up in training ground seven for your test seven pee-em an-"

"What, another test!?" Naruto and Sakura exclaimed in surprise.

"But of course, tomorrow begins your true genin test."

"But we are already genin, see!" Naruto pointed at his forehead or more precisely his Hitai-ate.

"No. The academy is only there to weed out anyone who's not genin material and if you fail it is right back into the academy. And as I tried to say I would recommend you to not eat any breakfast or you might puke. Ja-ne."

Before anyone was able to say anything more Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto sat dumbfounded on his improvised seat. Unlike the others, it was not the surprise test they all suddenly got dumped on them that had him shocked. Kakashi had not disappeared like the other time, when he got them from the classroom. No, this was much simpler in nature Kakashi had not simply disappeared but launched himself away at tremendous speed.

Naruto did not know how he knew, all he did see was Kakashi going up in smoke. He did not see any hand seals or any other sign of what he'd done to achieve such high speed. He only had this nagging feeling it was some kind of jutsu… he had to learn it… it was so awesome!


	3. Chapter 3: The Test

**A/N**: Don't know much of what to say except thanks for the reviews reviewers.

Here's a new chapter.

**Wanted**

Any one who has or know of a picture that would fit the story,  
>please don't hesitate to PM me.<p>

That is all.

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><p>Chapter three:<br>The Test

Naruto yawned deeply when he finally managed to find Training ground seven. He was immediately confronted by Sakura, a frown on her face and hands firmly placed on her hips.

"You are late, Baka!" she berated.

Naruto put his hands up in defence trying to placate the hot-headed girl.

"I'm not that late am I?" he said in a weak attempt, "…by the way where is Kakashi-sensei?"

She huffed and turned away, "He is also late." she grumbled.

Naruto smiled at that.

"Then no harm done, ne?"

Sakura in responded by decked him over the head with fist "Baka!"

Naruto wisely shut up after that, no point getting more hurt than necessary. He went up to the tree his little team seemed to have claimed as theirs and plopped down against it, sending a small 'hello' to Sasuke who responded with an 'hn', as per usual.

Naruto let out another yawn. He was dead tired after not finding enough sleep yesterday night. His excitement over today and the prospect of learning more jutsu was overwhelming. He had observed more ninja using that mysterious rapid-movement-thingy-mayig technique and was determined to learn it. Kakashi-sensei was going to do it, willingly or otherwise. It was a promise he made to himself before finally managing to get some shut-eye.

As the number of minutes he waited grew by the dozen, his eyes started to droop dangerously low, he found himself drifting into sleep.

* * *

><p>"<em>Huff… huff, come on Whiskers, was that really necessary?" asked the girl next to him as she tried to regain her breath.<em>

"_Heh he, of course Bun-Bun-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, his grin threatened to split his face in two._

"_Yo-osh, Naruto-san that was fun!" came the voice of the boy on his other side, he barely affected by the dead-sprint they had performed to avoid the colourful mob that had been their latest target. Naruto himself never understood what made people so angry when he used his array of paint-bombs to repaint the markets under rush-hour. He chalked it up as poor humour._

"_Naruto… next time, warn us… please" Bun-bun said and nudged the side of his head with a small smile._

"_See, see. You also found it funny! I'm the greatest, admit it!" Naruto made a great show of flexing his skinny arms trying to look impressive._

"_Bah, dream on."_

_Bushy-brows went in and circled his arms around his two classmates into a bear-hug and started to spin around the small clearing they managed to hide in, showing off a budding but still quite impressive bout of strength. The Boy was still high on endorphins after his adrenaline-rush from the chase only moments before._

_Naruto and Bun-bun desperately fought the iron grip Bushy-brows practiced on them, which led him to lose his balance. They crash landed in a tangle of limbs._

_After a moment of getting untangled they fell back laughing._

"_Baaaa!" Naruto opened his eyes and met the one of a horned ram._

"_Huh?" was all he managed to say as it reared up and slammed its head into his own…_

* * *

><p>"Wake up Baka!"<p>

Naruto held his head in pain as it throbbed from Sakura's punch.

"What is the big idea?!" he screamed from the ground.

She just shrugged like it did not matter, "You did not wake up the first time, idiot."

Still holding his head he grumbled and rose to his feet. From a little distance away Kakashi chuckled at their antics.

"Ma-ma, Sakura-san. Save your energy 'til after the test, hm?"

Naruto sighed, was this how it would be from now on? He surely hoped not. What was with the sheep though? If memory served him right the sheep was never there… no matter. He returned his attention to Kakashi who presented them with two bells.

"Your test is to get these bells from me. The ones without a bell when the clock hits noon will be sent back to the academy, understand?" Kakashi outlined the test.

Naruto and his team looked on with a mix of horror and curiosity.

"Then why are there only two bells when there are three of us?" Sakura observed.

"Well… it is simply so you better have a bell or you will be sent back… also as punishment for not retrieving a bell will be forced to watch the others eat lunch."

His students only gaped at him as he went to set the clock to ring at twelve o' clock sharp.

"You got three hours. Come at me with the intention to kill, begin!"

At the words Sasuke promptly turned tail and rand for the forest line and disappeared into the foliage. Sakura was only a step after. That left Naruto alone in front of Kakashi.

'Aw, come on!' Naruto complained in his mind, was he the only one that planned to actually fight him!?

Kakashi stared at the Orange clad boy in front of him slightly curious what he had planned, it was foolish, of course, to try and face him directly but that did not deter Kakashi in the least. This was actually the fun part of this test, to actually beat the crap out of his prospective students and see what they got.

Naruto slipped into a ready fighting stance, he did not plan on giving up without a fight. He was going to utilize his new skills and put them to good use. One of those bells was his, and if he could get the other too he would lovingly give it to Sakura… aaaah… maybe just maybe she would look at him like her hero.

"Never take your eye of your opponent."

"Huh!?" Naruto went back to reality.

Kakashi had in the short time covered the ten meter's that separated them and stood towering over him. He threw a fist into the boy's stomach and appreciated the soft give it had before his fist erupted in pain. Looking down he saw a puff of smoke revealing a large rock instead of the boy he thought he had hit.

'What the-' he caught a flash of orange in his left peripheral view and in a flash of movement he caught the kunai wielding hand of Naruto's. Who also collapsed into smoke, '-Hell!'

He ducked low into a leg-sweep that caught the real Naruto this time as he was mare centimetres away from taking the bells. Kakashi was stunned at the text-book styled assault as he rubbed his damaged hand; he had probably cracked a knuckle or two on that rock… How did the boy manage to successfully Kawarimi with something so small?

Naruto struggled to breathe as he had landed flat on his back; his lungs did not want to cooperate at all.

"Better luck next time." Kakashi taunted the stunned boy as he extracted his 'Icha Icha' book from his pouch and walked away.

Sasuke was impressed at Naruto's attempt; it actually looked like he had succeeded at first but their jounin seemed to live up to the rank. "Tch, baka." He whispered under his breath and left to set up a trap of his own.

Sakura was similarly impressed by the feat but knew if Sasuke-kun had tried it he would have actually gotten the bells. She did not give Naruto a second glance when she too went deeper into the forest, wanting to find and team up with Sasuke-kun.

* * *

><p>After several minutes Naruto managed to regain full breathing capacity and rolled up on all fours. 'Damn it!' he silently cursed, 'I almost had him! How did he know I was there?' he recalled everything that he had done. He had the moment he felt Kakashi's fist replaced himself with a rock a few steps away; he was curious how he managed to do it. He had felt his chakra mold to his will when he imagined making the hand-seals and in a disorienting flash of movements. At the time he disregarded the oddity of this and formed a clone to act as a distraction.<p>

He had been so close! He could almost feel the bells touch when his legs suddenly got swept away and he landed painfully on his back. How could Kakashi have known he was there?

His stomach rumbled as it screamed for food, it was cranky after not receiving more than water for breakfast. Then he remembered Kakashi must have brought lunch with him. Naruto grinned, he was going to find it and eat it before anyone else. He chuckled evilly as he started searching the perimeter.

* * *

><p>It did not take long for the silence to be pierced by an ear-splitting scream.<p>

Naruto jumped in fright and spilled his newly acquired lunch all over the ground.

"Aw, come on! I was eating that…" he complained and drooped with a sigh. At least his stomach was not hungry anymore. He had also been still for far too long, it would not look good if Kakashi discovered him on the scene of crime and bolted in the general direction of the scream.

Sakura was in danger and he would come to her rescue, no matter if she liked it or not. 'One of these days she must come to realize I'm the better catch than Sasuke-teme, dattebayo!'

It was not hard to find the pink-haired girl as she stood out of the greenery like the sun on a clear-blue day. He got slightly worried as to what happened to her as she was pale… very pale and frothing from her mouth.

'What the hell happened to you?' Naruto wondered and crouched down beside her, slightly poking her in the side trying to rouse her.

After a few pokes that seemed to have no effect he started to try and shake her awake.

"Sakura, ey, Sakura-chan, wake up." After a few seconds she still did not wake up.

He sighed.

He could not leave her like this and he needed to find Sasuke, he wanted to know how well he had done. So he threw Sakura's limp body over his shoulder and started to march away in another completely random direction.

* * *

><p>Sasuke was in a very hard predicament, a neck deep one could say… He grumbled in frustration. He could not mold any chakra in any way to loosen up the dirt around him. In fact the only limb he could move was his head. He was very inclined to shout for help but his pride could not take such a blow.<p>

"Aaah hah ha!"

'Damn it.'

"Ne, Sasuke-teme... you stuck? Ha ha ha!"

Sasuke turned his head around and scolwed at the lame joke as he glimpsed a grinning Naruto walk into the clearing. He also noted Sakura was slung over his shoulder.

"Shut up Naruto and get me out of here."

"Not if you don't say the magic word." Naruto said in a singsong voice.

Sasuke scowl deepened but he gave up and sighed, "Please?"

"Hn, one moment." Naruto laid Sakura down before he started to dig the Uchiha out with a kunai.

As soon Naruto had dug free one arm he handed over the tool over to his grumpy teammate who proceeded to slowly dig himself out of the ground. The only response or thanks he got was a quiet 'hn' from the prideful Uchiha member.

"So… what we do now?" Naruto asked Sasuke as he watched him work.

"There is no we, moron."

"Bah, and you are doing so much better alone, huh?!"

"Tch, better than you."

"Says the idiot who got trapped!" Naruto was seriously starting to get pissed off at the asshole.

Naruto crossed his arms and turned his back on Sasuke-teme. If he did not want his help then so be it! He started to walk away, leaving Sakura with the half-undug Sasuke.

* * *

><p>The alarm clock rung and Sakura and Sasuke disgruntledly returned to the starting point, finding Naruto sitting on one of the stumps hiding the memorial stone and the last lunchbox. He was not happy at all as they surely were going back to the academy.<p>

"Tch, tch, tch. What should I do with you all?" Kakashi sighed. He walked out of the shadows of a tree near the kids.

Naruto glared into the distance, his head resting in his hands as he slouched. Sasuke was not happy either with the outcome and slumped defeated down against one of the three tree stumps. Sakura was on the verge of crying and she remained standing a bit away from the boys kicking the ground.

"Naruto, I am disappointed in you. You ate up my lunch." Kakashi said calmly, it somehow made it worse for Naruto.

"Well… I am disappointed in you all actually; none of you have what it takes to be a ninja. You should all just quit before I send you back."

All three of them looked down at the ground ashamed as Kakashi's words just hurt.

"Do any of you know what I wanted you to do?" he asked and received no response, "I wanted you to work together as a team."

"But how could we, you said only two of us could pass!" Sakura almost cried, the pain of failing and the hunger in her stomach was almost too much for her to bear.

"That is the whole point of this test," his assigned team looked up in surprise, " I see none of you truly understand the dangers of being a ninja, do you not understand why you were assigned a team. Sure individual strength is important but teamwork is more so." Kakashi sighed.

He went over to the memorial stone and stroked the smooth surface, contemplating his words.

"On this stone are some of the best men and women to ever serve Konoha… there among them my best friends." He looked back at the trio, "Do you know why?"

Naruto and Sakura shook their heads, Sasuke just met kakashi's one eyed stare. Kakashi sighed.

"They died because of me." he heard Sakura gasp behind him… he could only hope the kids understood his words, "They died because of the choices I made."

He grasped the last lunchbox and walked back towards the kids.

"I will give you one more chance after lunch." He handed Naruto the box. "And because it seems you're so hungry you get to eat," he eyed the two other genin, "and only you. I will be back when it's time to start."

Naruto stared shocked at the box in his hands and felt incredibly uncomfortable with it. He had already eaten his fill and by the hungry looks of his teammates he knew he was the only one who did not need it.

Sakura slumped down and hugged her knees, Sasuke just huffed and turned away. With shaking hands Naruto lifted the lid off and started to eat but for each bite he felt sick. After only three bits he slammed the lid shut and threw the box away.

"What are you doing Naruto?" Sakura exclaimed.

"I'm not hungry I don't need it." he jumped down from the log, "both of you can have it, I don't care."

He showed his hands in his pockets and started to walk away.

But as soon as Naruto was out of eyeshot he got stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait Naruto," Said Kakashi, "why did you leave?"

Naruto shrugged, "I did not want it."

"Why?" Kakashi fished.

Naruto looked away rubbing his head.

"I felt bad being the only one to eat."

Kakashi smiled and clapped him on the shoulder, "Come." He said and started to walk back towards the rest of his team.

Curious as to why Naruto followed.

* * *

><p>"You pass."<p>

"Huh!?" Sakura and Naruto exclaimed in unison.

"You pass."

"Yeah we heard but why?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Kakashi smiled and looked down at his students.

"It is quite simple actually… You are the first. Everyone else just did as I told them like the morons they were." Kakashi started, "… A ninja must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules and codes are trash. But know this, those who don't take care of their comrades… are lower than trash."

He chuckled a little at the dumbfounded looks his little students made.

"This concludes todays training," he made a thumbs up towards them, "Tomorrow begins team sevens duties, let's go!"

Naruto stood shocked in place as his team started to walk away towards Konoha. A little tear started to trickle down his cheek and he pumped the air in silent victory. He had finally made it, he was a ninja, a shinobi of Konoha. 'He he he, watch out old man, I'll take that hat from you soon.'

He started to jog to catch up with his team, grinning like an idiot. This day was but the start on an adventure he knew it.


End file.
